Mobility
1: capable of moving or being moved : movable
2: a : changeable in appearance, mood, or purpose
b : adaptable, versatile
3: migratory
4: a : characterized by the mixing of social groups
b : having the opportunity for or undergoing a shift in status within the levels of a society
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Initially a term closed associated with the physical sciences, as in "electron mobility," referring to the movement of electrons through conducting materials, mobility in regard to environments can refer to the expansion of human in uence on various environs and spaces, sometimes with the intent of future colonization. McHale writes about the mobility of man and human intervention in the sense of exploration:
"Implicit in all discussion of the human environment is the essential mobility of man, the ways in which he has extended himself physically. In the historical phases of this mobility, he spread out into every area of the planetary surface; now in the beginning of a second phase he has become vertically mobile, out into space and inwardly to the bottom of the oceans" (McHale, 1967; p.85).1
In this sense, the minimally explored environments include the deep seas and outer space, which humans have just recently begun to explore and gather knowledge about. However, even in our daily culture, outer space and ocean depths are associated with the 'unknown,' setting the stage for imaginative movies, books, and depictions of aliens or sea monsters. The under-developed understanding of these environments provide a fascination and a yearning to further explore them but also sometimes result in unforeseen consequences such as the Great Paci fic Gyre. The gyre is something which has only recently been explored by humans, being found in 1997, however the gyre itself results from human in uence, or mobility, in the oceans. This human presence in the waters is sometimes unintentional as occurs with shipments of consumer goods which fall overboard and into the oceans during storms. At other times, the in uence is intentional, resulting from the dumping of debris and waste into the oceans.